


Coming Home

by MoiraiThanatoio



Series: Public Opinion [1]
Category: Incredible Hulk (2008), The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Backstory, Darcy survived Harlem, Fake!Ditz, Gen, OFC best friend, Profanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-20
Updated: 2012-09-20
Packaged: 2017-11-14 16:31:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoiraiThanatoio/pseuds/MoiraiThanatoio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And I will never forget looking into that face and seeing compassion in his eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Home

Tell the World I’m coming home  
Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday

***

“This is not fucking healthy, girl!”

The voice broke through Darcy’s introspection. She turned, putting her back to the building where her mother had died and tried to smile. 

“I waited,” her best friend in the world protested. “I gave you a half hour of your moody brooding shit. Enough. I’m fucking soaked. Home.”

Home. The thought caused Darcy to laugh. It wasn’t a happy sound. 

“Oh, fuck that,” Maria summed up. Abandoning Darcy on the pavement, the other woman strode into the coffee shop that fronted the office building that used to be a motel, her attitude getting her quick service. 

Darcy took a deep breath by the time her friend was walking back towards her. On the exhale, she finally let it go. 

“Tea, drink it. Maybe the antioxidants will cheer you the fuck up.”

Darcy’s eyebrow shut up, a loving ‘bitch’ slipping out as she accepted the paper cup. After the first sip, she really did feel a lot better. “You know my mom died here. This is like Death Tea.”

Maria took Darcy’s arm, propelling her down the sidewalk. “And yet, you are not dead. Praise the Lord and Hallelujah as my mother would say… Even more important, we both start new jobs in the morning and do not have time for your glum ass to be haunting a street in Harlem.”

“Maria,” came the almost instant protest. 

“No. Done. New starts all around. I accepted the whole ‘I can’t talk about it’ bullshit but it ends here. I am going to be a fucking awesome employee of Columbia in the morning. And you are going to be a fucking awesome employee of Stark International… And we will eventually get raises and move to a better apartment.”

“Deal,” Darcy agreed. That had been the agreement since she’d first met Maria.

***

“Motherfucker!”

Darcy screamed out her frustrations as soon as the heavy wooden door shut behind her with a sound like doom approaching. And it had been… Two degrees simultaneously, two final papers to write, and the officious prick wouldn’t waive the internship requirement – something that had been guaranteed to her when she’d first started. 

The secretary stared at her with a distinctly unimpressed look. 

“What?!” Darcy said to the hairy eyeball being directed her way. “I have thesis to write. Thesises. Theses. Whatever the plural is… and, apparently, a fucking internship to serve… Which, how exactly am I supposed to get my two Master’s thesis written and earn six credits at the same time?”

She gestured at her chest, “All while avoiding some perv who wants to get acquainted with the ladies?”

That the secretary burst out laughing instead of calling campus security was a godsend. “Oh, girl, I am going to make your day.”

Darcy lost most of her attitude in that instant, sliding up to the desk. “Tell me more?”

“Maria,” the secretary offered with a hand.

“Darcy,” she returned, shaking firmly.

“Can you type?” Maria asked.

“Fuck yes,” was Darcy’s simple reply.

“Then here’s the deal. We have an adjunct doing research out in New Mexico. Complete space cadet, can’t get her reports in on time. She’s being forced to take an intern or lose the grant. Since it’s out of state, it’s six credits instead of three.”

Darcy looked at the paper Maria was waving in front of her nose. “This is for Physics… I’m Political Science and Public Affairs.”

“And space cadet thinks my name is Martina, despite having been on this campus for the whole six years I’ve been working in this office. I don’t think she needs anything other than a secretary herself. Play the ditz undergrad, I’ll ditch the honest applicants, and you have your time.”

That, right there, was why Darcy made an effort not to piss off the TAs and administrative staff. 

“Why would you do this for me?” Darcy asked, honestly confused. 

“Because,” Maria summed up, turning back to her computer. “When I finish my own degree? I’m going to get his,” she shot a glare at the closed door, “job at Columbia and never think about this place again.”

It had been the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

***

The hot drinks were long gone by the time they made it back to the tiny apartment they were sharing in the city. 

Maria curled up on one end of their couch and stared until Darcy crept into place on the other end. “I’ve never asked, but you need to talk about it… Before one of those moody bouts gets your ass mugged or worse.”

Darcy sighed, but stared blindly across the room. “Yeah. I know.”

After a deep breath, she started at the beginning. “We were in New York on a mini-vacation, my mom, sister and I. The only place we could afford to stay was a shitty motel in Harlem. We just didn’t know it was the worst possible timing.”

Maria had shifted over, closer, in support. Darcy clung to the hand she’d offered silently.

“You remember the videos of Hulk fighting that thing?” At the nod, she continued. “That was the day after we arrived. Mom was killed when the building collapsed. My sister and I had almost gotten out, we were pinned under this giant piece of concrete. That’s where I broke my ankle so badly.”

Maria nodded, regretting all the times she’d given Darcy crap over her refusal to wear heels. “Girl,” she asked quietly, “Why did you ever come to Culver University for your Masters?”

“Because he saved my life,” Darcy sighed. “My sister was caught there next to me. She died and all I could do was hold her hand. I knew I was going to be next… He stopped in the street and I thought I was dead. But he moved that concrete so that I could get out. And I will never forget looking into that face and seeing compassion in his eyes.”

“It doesn’t matter how many NDAs we’ve all signed,” Maria started, “You know people talk.”

Darcy nodded, wiping her cheeks. 

“That’s why you’re in New York.”

Darcy nodded again. “First sightings in years inside the US and they’re here. So I’m here and I’m going to find a way to repay the debt I owe. It’s a crap entry job, but we all saw the videos of him catching Iron Man. Someone in Stark tower has to know something.” 

“Then when you get arrested for stalking, I will be here to bail you out.”

It was just the comment they needed to burst into laughter, dispersing the lurking tears.


End file.
